Recipes for everyday vegetarian Indian dishes with easy style and quick cooking methods.

DOSA AND IDLIS USING RICE FLOUR AND UDAD DAL FLOUR ( NO SOAK, NO GRIND )

Initially I used this recipe only for making quick dosas without soaking and grinding as it is very convenient and also when travelling out of homes this recipe is useful as we can carry the flours with us and make dosas in our temporary residences like motels or extended stays in hotels.

This recipe is a great life saver for the people who are constantly travelling and for students out of homes. All you need t carry is idli stand plates and a rice cooker which will help to steam cook idlis and a tava to make dosas out of the same batter. Yes you heard me right!!

This is an awesome recipe to make both dosas and idlis at the same time.So when you travel carry sufficient flours and measure out required quantity, make a batter, leave to ferment overnight.

My greatest bane is I tend to forget soaking dals and rice for making dosa for breakfast or for the day, on several such ooccasionsI remember my mom who had many such easy methods of mixing rice and udad dal flour and leaving it overnight to ferment.

The next day we wouldn’t see any difference , as the dosa structure was the same .The Idlis as you can see from the pics were so good and I never missed soaking grinding method.

Ingredients

3 cups rice flour ( any measurement of cup is ok, but use the same cup to measure udad dal flour too. )1 cup plus 1 tbsp udad dal flour.1 tsp fenugreek seed powder ( optional ) use it if you get the ready powder or roast and powder add it after sieving powder . It is worth adding as it gives extremely soft idlis and colour to dosas

2 tbsp besan flour( if planning to make paper crisp dosa, or masala dosa, skip besan flour if using the batter for idlis too .)salt as required to be added after batter ferments.1 tbsp curd ( optional ), helps in fermentation. Water as required to make dosa batter./idli batter

Method

Take a large vessel, add the flours,fenugreek seed powder, mix well.

Add little water in small cups and keep whisking the batter to remove lumps if any. Start mixing with hand as I believe this gives good fermentation too.

Add water till you get good thick smooth batter . Add in small tbsp at a time .

Add water to make a thick batter as we do while grinding normal Idli / dosa batter batter. Add the curd too.Curd is optional as I have also done this earlier without curd.Cover and leave to ferment in a spot where you normally leave dosa batter for overnight fermentation.

This may require 8-10 hrs of fermentation depending on the climate, temperature . People in colder regions allow to ferment the way you normally do In a warm place or oven with lights on etc .But this batter will not exactly double in volume like ground dosa batter, but will definitely rise see the pics below ., so if you notice after 8 -10 hrs the batter has bubbles, and when mixed with a spatula, it will appear foamy and light that is enough to make dosas and idlis immediately after adding salt .

If you plan to make idlis too with this batter then don’t dilute, save some batter for idlis and dilute rest for making dosas .Add little water to batter now to get a dosa pouring consistency. The batter shouldn’t be runny too.

Prepare dosas the normal way by heating a griddle well, smearing with an oiled onion all over to get a nice aroma and grease the griddle well.
Splash drops of water all over and make dosa by pouring batter in centre and making quick circles.

Flame to be in medium hot initially and dont lower it..Put drops of oil along the edges to get a crispy end.
Flip over and remove.

The dosa will get a nice brownish colour.
Serve it with chutneys, molga podis, or sambar.

Notes

1. adding fenugreek seed powder is optional , adding it will give good idlis too .2. adding curd to batter helps in fermentation but optional3. If you have any leftover dosa idli batter of a previous batch add that to mixed flour batter , for quick fermentation

Pic below shows how well the batter fermented and this one without adding curd ! I knew by looking at batter that I would get good soft idlis too!

The batter must fall like a thick foamy ball which is proof that you will get good dosas and idlis and batter is fermented just right . Avoid keeping out anymore as too much fermentation will not give tasty results . Don’t allow batter to over flow . It should rise like a mound just like cake , anything above that spilling out of vessel means short life of batter and quick sourness .

Ah I know what you mean, I always forget to soak my daal too. ^.^ Your dosa looks quite appetizing, I wouldn't mind it for breakfast tomorrow. Keeping daal and rice to soak over night so that they ferment? Sounds interesting.

Hi Radha, Thank you for great recipe, I tried your previous recipe for dosa and really liked it. but my batter never ferent, I have tried, everything, adding cooked rice, poha, salt/no salt but my batter will always stay flat. could you share tips for good fermentation

thanks for trying, all I can say is if you live in colder regions with not much humidity , then keep batter in a oven with lights on or on a kitchen counter top, also the batter should not be thin, make it thick so you can dilute later, mix batter with hand from bottom to top 3-4 times , i believe keeping batter vessel on top a refrigerator ( not inside ! ) also helps quick fermentation as told by a friend, ground batter should be mixed well first to incorporate air and then allowed to ferment.next time try keeping batches of batter in casseroles which has the built in warmer , may work….this recipe is no different from the usual ground batter method, it may take more hours to ferment but it will so dont lose heart and keep trying

About The Author

I am Radha Natarajan , author of Your Everyday Cook . Currently based in Chennai ( Tamilnadu ). Armed with professional degrees in Marketing and Advertising Iam now a full time mom , home maker and an avid blogger . Photography , travel tales and gardening takes my time besides food blogging.